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Brent Greens uncover river pollution Uncovering our buried rivers (Boris's radical river plan June 26th) may uncover more than mere water. The Gaderbrook which emerges from a conduit to flow through the north of Fryent Country Park illustrates the problem. There has been a worry about pollution in the waterway for a number of years and work by the Environment Agency, Thames Water and Brent Council has revealed 32 'misconnections'. This is when foul (waste) drainage systems are wrongly connected to the surface drainage systems which flow into rivers and streams. Thames Water has been successful in getting 15 of the 32 households or businesses involved to correct the problem and Brent Council has the task of enforcing action if necessary. Harrow Council has that duty further upstream. The misconnections often occur when extensions are built and waste water from washing machines, dish waters etc are directed to the wrong drainage system. There is a possibility that faecal matter from misconnected toilets also flows into the Gaderbrook and the smell emanating from it during the present hot spell certainly justifies this suspicion. As well as continuing urgent action to remedy the existing pollution we would like to see some proactive preventative work through planning and building regulations to ensure that misconnections do not happen in the first place. Martin Francis Brent Green Party |
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"Star Letter" published in |